Aviation: S&T Report

Viscount Simon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	In the light of their response to recommendation 5.5 of the Science and Technology Committee report on Air Travel and Health: an update (HL Papers 7 and 105), when a legislative opportunity is likely to arise.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Government hope to bring forward legislation as and when parliamentary time allows.

Planning: Eco-towns

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the estimated total cost of making improvements to highways and railway infrastructure in the Elsenham area if construction of the proposed eco-town goes ahead.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The planning application for any eco-town location will need to be supported by a comprehensive transport assessment. Until this has been completed, the impacts of an eco-town development on local transport networks and the nature and cost of any measures to mitigate them cannot be determined. Before any decision is taken to include a scheme in the eco-town shortlist, a cross-government assessment of the likely level of costs will be undertaken.
	The Department for Transport has issued new guidance on sustainable transport in new developments, particularly eco-towns, which is on the department's website, www.dft.gov.uk/pqr/sustainable.

Employment

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many people in (a) Elsenham, (b) Stansted Mountfitchet, (c) Uttlesford District, (d) the Saffron Walden constituency, and (e) Essex are unemployed; and what percentages these represent.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Karen Dunnell, National Statistician, to Lord Hanningfield, dated June 2008.
	As the National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people were unemployed and what percentages these represented in (a) Elsenham (b) Stansted Mountfitchet (c) Uttlesford district, (d) the Saffron Walden constituency, and (e) Essex.
	The Office for National Statistics produces estimates of total unemployment for unitary and local authorities, from a statistical model, and for other local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS), following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.
	Table 1 shows estimates for Essex obtained from the APS for the 12 months ending in December 2007, which is the most recent period for which estimates are available. Estimates for the Saffron Walden constituency for this period are suppressed due to the small sample size. The table also shows model-based estimates of the total number of unemployed and the unemployment rate for Uttlesford district. Corresponding estimates for local government wards and small geographic areas such as Elsenham and Stansted Mountfitchet are not available.
	As these estimates are for a subset of the population in small geographical areas, they are based on small sample sizes and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty.
	
		
			 Unemployment1 in Essex, Uttlesford district and the Saffron Walden constituency, 12 months ending December 2007 
			  Unemployed (thousands) Rate %2 
			 Essex 32 5 
			 Uttlesford district 1 3 
			 Saffron Walden - - 
			 Source:  annual population survey and model-based estimates 
		
	
	1. Persons aged 16+
	2. Unemployed as a percentage of the economically active population. Disclosive or estimate is not available.